


Stuck Like Glue

by whitebeltwriter



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Panic Attacks, Pre-Relationship, Season 1, minor canon divergent, reposted from fanfiction.net, team is done wth their shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 07:51:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17845388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitebeltwriter/pseuds/whitebeltwriter
Summary: What had started out as a simple school project turned into a miniature hell for Artemis. Then it turned into something else.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally wrote this back in 2012 (crap I've been doing this a while) on Fanfiction.net and randomly got a new comment for it the other day because of the release of S3. So, I decided to move it over here for others to see (after fixing some minor mistakes in the first draft).  
> Enjoy!

Artemis was not happy.

In fact, one could say that she was bordering homicidal rage at the moment.

Some of which was aimed the large glob of glue stuck to her hand.

But most of it was towards the redhead, whose hand also had glue on it.

The _exact_ same glob, as it so happened, that was attached to her own.

What had started out as a rather simple school project had now turned into the archer’s own little corner of hell.

So no, Artemis was _not_ happy.

“Artemis, quit looking at Wally like that. It’s making me nervous,” M’gann said as she held the couple’s hands under warm water.

“You’re not the only one, babe,” Wally agreed nervously, “I think Artemis could give Medusa a run for her money, given the chance.”

Glare deepening, the archer said in a low voice, “Wally. Unless you want your death to be even more slow and painful then it is already, you will shut up. Right. Now!”

Withering under her gaze, Kid mumbled, “Geez, what did I do?”

_“’What did you do?!’”_ Artemis snapped. Splashing water everywhere, the girl yanked her right hand, and subsequently his left, out of the sink and shoved it an inch from his face.

Seething she said, “Because of your bone-headedness, my hand is now stuck to yours with _rubber cement!”_ she shook the two fists for emphasis.

“It’s not my fault!” Wally cried indignantly, “You’re the one who kept hogging all the glue!”

“Wha-!”

“If you’d been a better sharer, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“If you had taken a hint and left me alone, I would’ve finished sooner and you could’ve had the glue!”

“Yeah right! If I’d done that, you would have blown up the kitchen with your stupid rocket!”

“Um, guys-“ M’gann tried to talk, but was cut off.

“It’s not armed, Kid Idiot! There’s nothing _to_ blow up!” Artemis replied, getting in his face.

“Guys?”

“I’m sure you would have found a way! You are a blonde after all!” Wally remarked, leaning closer to the blonde.

“ _What’d you say, you redheaded little_ -

“GUYS!” the Martian yelled.

Shocked by M’gann’s outburst, the two teens jolted apart from eachother, only to be brought to a painful halt by their conjoined hands.

Hands on her hips, Miss Martian huffed and said, “Thank you. Now will you please explain to me exactly how you two got like this?” indicating their hands.

“Gladly,” Artemis replied as she tried to cross her arms. After glaring at Wally when she couldn’t, she settled for placing her free hand on her hip.

“I was here in the kitchen, trying to finish up on a project I had for school…”

* * *

_‘I’m seriously starting to get pissed,’_ Artemis thought as she cut out a tailfin for her rocket.

Two weeks ago, the archer’s science teacher had decided to give the class a more hands on lesson about rockets by having them build their own. Each student had two weeks to make their rocket, and launch it during class on that Monday.

Artemis had finished designing her rocket the very day it was assigned; but between her other homework, training, chores, and team missions, she hadn’t had enough time to work on it.

It was now the Friday night before the assignment was due, and Artemis was determined to at least finished the body of the rocket that night so that she could spend the weekend working out any bugs it might have.

Thinking she’d have more space to work with at the Cave, not to mention a private beach to practice launching from, the blonde zeta-beamed over, set up shop at the kitchen counter, and got to work.

She’d been at it for over two hours and was just about to finish cutting out the rocket’s last tailfin when a voice from behind her said, “Whatcha working on?”

Jumping nearly a foot off of her barstool, and banging her knee in the process, Artemis cursed and twisted around to glare at the speedster who had seemed to pop out of nowhere.

Annoyed at the interruption, she said, “First of all; pull a Robin on me again and I’ll break your teeth. Second: I’m working on a rocket for school. Now go away so I can finish.” Not watching to see if he left or not, the archer turned back around and continued to cut the sheet of metal in her hands.

Leaning over her shoulder, Wally said, “A rocket, huh? Neat.”

Choosing to his ignore his presence, the archer said nothing as she finally finished cutting out the tailfin and examined it for any defects.

After making sure that all four tailfins were the same, Artemis was about to attach them to the rocket when Wally said, “That won’t work.”

Sighing, she replied, “What won’t work, Baywatch?”

“Your rocket.”

Putting down the tailfin, Artemis spun around on her barstool and nearly crashed into the speedster’s face, not realizing how close he had been. Composing herself, and managing not to blush, she glared the redhead in the eye, and responded, “What do you mean, ‘it won’t work?’”

Straightening up and putting his ‘behold-the-awesomeness-of-my-genius’ face on, Wally stated, “Well, it’ll work, it just won’t work as well as it could have if it had been done by a true scientist. Such as me,” he gloated, gesturing to himself.

Taking a deep breath and counting to three, Artemis said, “Thanks for the insult, Kid Idiot, now go away and leave me alone. So long as the rocket goes up and comes back down in one piece, I don’t care how high it goes or how well it flies.” She turned back to the countertop.

“Sooo, you admit that I’m a better scientist then you?” he smirked.

Whipping back around she retorted, “If constantly blowing things up make you a better scientist, then yes!”

“I do not constantly blow things up!”

“Oh no? Then why is it that we’ve had to buy three new fire extinguishers for the Cave’s lab?”

“Hey! That was when I was making fireworks! FIREWORKS! They’re _supposed_ to blow up!”

“Not indoors, Kid Idiot!”

“The point is,” he growled, “That I can make a better rocket than you can!”

“Can not!”

“Can too!”

“Can not!”

“Can too!”

“Can not!”

“Can too!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“Then prove it!”

“I WILL!” With that, Wally sped out of the kitchen and towards the Cave’s lab.

Artemis laughed to herself and said, “That outta keep him busy for a while,” before she went back to work.

Fifteen minutes later, the blonde girl was about to put the fourth and final tailfin onto her rocket when Wally came to a screeching halt next to her and reached for her glue.

“I need to borrow-hey!” he said as Artemis snatched the glue out of his reach and glared at him, yet again.

“Not yet, Baywatch! I only have one tailfin left to do and there is no way I’m giving you so much as a drop of glue before I’m done. Got it?” she growled.

Wally pouted, “Aw come on, _Arty_ , you’ve had the glue for _hours_ , I just need it for a second,” he reached for the glue again, but missed.

“Call me Arty again, _Baywatch_ , and I’ll never give it to you!” she glared, holding the glue as far away from him as possible.

Determined, the redhead replied, “Fine, then I’ll just take it!”

With that, he zipped to the other side of the counter and tried to snatch the container by force.

Unfortunately, for both of them, Artemis expected this.

The second she saw his face, the archer had instinctively tighten her grip on the glue. She ended up gripping it so hard, that the cap popped straight off of the container and a giant glob of rubber cement squeezed out of it and onto her hand.

Shocked at the sudden cold and wet thing appearing on her hand, Artemis let go of the container, allowing the glue to flow onto her palm as it fell away.

It was at that exact moment that Wally reached for her hand with his left and….

“And that’s how you two got stuck?” M’gann asked.

“ _Yes!_ ” Artemis stated, continuing her glare at Wally.

He stuck his tongue out in response, causing the blonde to start yelling at him again.

When M’gann finally got them to stop a second time, she questioned, “Glue takes a minute to dry, so why didn’t you two let go as soon as you grabbed her hand?”

“”Uh…we-you-he-it was….uh,”” The two teens instantly turned red and began to stutter incomprehensible words simultaneously.

Neither one wanted to admit that after Wally had grabbed her hand they had just stood there staring at eachother, with blushes on their cheeks.

“We didn’t let go because-because-“ Artemis struggled.

“Because we were too busy fighting with eachother!” Wally suggested.

“Yes, that’s it!!” the blonde rapidly agreed, “We were fighting eachother-“

“And by the time we realized what had happened-“

“The glue had already dried too much for us to separate!”

“Exactly!” Wally finished. The two smiled at eachother in triumph before realizing who they were smiling at and returned to glaring.

“Riiighhht,” M’gann replied with her eyebrow cocked. _‘Oh, how cute! They’re still in denial,’_ she thought.

_‘I think I’ll have a little fun,’_ the Martian thought deviously.

Out loud she said, “So, you were fighting?”

““Yep.”” They both answered.

“Loudly?”

““Uh-huh.””

“The whole time?”

“”Yes.””

M’gann placed her chin on her hand and looked at the ceiling.

“Huh, that’s weird? Because when I walked into the kitchen, you two were just staring at eachother quietly,” inwardly she thought, _‘I’m evil.’_

The stuttering returned.

“Uh-that was-“

“We-we-we-”

“”WERE IN A LULL!!”” they both yelled.

“A lull?”

“Yeah, a lull,” Artemis answered, “We were both yelling so much that we both had to stop to-to-”

“To catch our breaths!” Wally added.

“Yes, that’s right! And at that time, you came in! During the lull…. in our fight…”

“Mm-hm,” M’gann commented.

_‘I should probably point out that neither of them was breathing heavily when I came in. or that I didn’t hear any shouting before I entered the kitchen, buuut, I think I’ve tortured them enough.’_

Picking up the glue container up off of where it had landed on the floor, Miss Martian read the back while the two teens tried to look everywhere except at eachother.

Finally M’gann said, “According to the container, the glue company makes a solvent for this exact glue. They probably sell it at the hardware store here in town.”

Both teens perked up immediately and said, “That’s great!”” before turning to eachother and saying, “”Stop copying me!”” “”No, you!”” “”No, you!””

Not even bothering to stop them, M’gann said, “Anyway, you two wait here and I’ll go buy some.” With that, the Martian flew out of the kitchen and towards the hanger.

It wasn’t until they heard the hangar doors close did Wally and Artemis realize that they were alone with eachother.

Again.

They stood there in an awkward silence for a minute, neither one entirely sure what to say or do.

Eventually, Artemis decided to switch to default mode.

“Well this is just great!” she sneered, “Not only can I not finish my project, but I have to be stuck to you in the mean time!”

“Well, excuse me-” Wally retorted, “-For trying to make a rocket!”

“That’s my line!” she yelled turning to face him and realizing how close he was.

He must have realized it too, because they both backed up as far as their arms would allow them and returned to looking at everything but eachother.

After a few minutes of silent blushing and fuming, Wally finally sighed and said, “Look, I’m sorry.”

Startled, Artemis looked at him like he had grown an extra head and squeaked, _“What?”_ before silently kicking herself for squeaking.

Still not looking at her, he continued, “I guess it’s my fault that we’re like this- with the glue, I mean, and just… I’m sorry, okay?”

Staring at him openmouthed for a moment, the archer contemplated saying “You guess?” but ultimately decided against it.

Instead she said, “Apology accepted, Baywatch.”

Now it was Wally’s turn to look at her like she was speaking a completely foreign language.

Swallowing her pride, Artemis looked away and continued, “And, I guess I’m sorry too. This rocket is due on Monday and I guess I acted kinda snappy earlier.”

Smiling, Wally pointed out, “There is a whole lot of guessing going on in the kitchen today, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess there is,” she replied, smiling back.

Both of them smiled at eachother before blushing, looking away, glancing back at the same time, and looking away again while blushing even harder.

“Let’s watch TV while we wait for M’gann to get back,” Wally blurted out while rubbing the back of his head.

“Great idea,” Artemis agreed. The two teens moved to go to the couch only in different directions, jerking to a stop because of their hands. After glaring at the conjoined limbs for a second, the two heroes finally managed to move in the same direction and were soon seated side by side in the middle of the couch.

Having grabbed the remote as soon as they had sat down, Wally began flipping through the channels trying to find something they could watch. He was going so fast, that Artemis couldn’t even tell what channel they were on, let alone what was on. Still, she decided that he would find something eventually, so she wouldn’t get on him about it.

She lasted five minutes.

“Would you pick something already?” she snapped.

Glaring at her while still surfing, Wally responded, “I can’t there’s nothing on!”

Throwing her free hand in the air she asked, “How can you tell?! You’re going so fast I can’t even tell what’s on!”

“Well I can, and the answer is nothing!”

“You’re not even looking right now!”

“I can tell by what’s being said!”

“By what’s bein- _look_ , just give me the remote, I’ll find something!” she said as she reached for his right hand. He easily dodged and held the remote farther away from her while still flipping channels.

“Puh-lease, if I left it to you, you’d probably pick some girly chick flick with a ton of kissing,” he teased making a kissy face.

“Would not!” she growled, lunging yet again.

“Would too!”

They went back and forth like for a minute, with Artemis reaching and Wally dodging while still channel surfing.

Fed up, the archer growled and launched herself at the remote, leaving her seat in the process. Finally snatching the remote from his hand, Artemis cried out triumphantly and turned to Wally to gloat. Before she could start, however, she notice that the boy had turned as red as his hair.

She wondered why for about half a second before looking down and realizing the position they were in.

After launching herself from her seat, Artemis somehow managed to end up straddling Wally’s lap, facing him.

Looking back at Wally’s face, the archer tried to open her mouth to apologize but nothing came out. Her head was buzzing and the only clear thought was, _‘Wow, he has beautiful eyes,’_ not knowing that the exact same thing was going through his head as well.

Staring at eachother, it occurred to the two of them how close their faces were to eachother. They were close enough for her to count each individual freckle on his face. Close enough for him to realize that her eyes were a stunning stormy gray color.

Close enough to kiss…

Freaking out somewhat, the blonde decided to keep going and landed in the seat on his right, forgetting that their hands were still conjoined, meaning that when she sat down, her right arm was pulled in front of her body, the same with his left.

It was slightly painful, but the two teenagers were stunned and couldn’t find any words to say. For umpteenth time that day, they blushed and looked away from eachother.

As they tried to mentally sort out what the hell had just happened, they finally noticed that the TV had stopped on a 24-hour music channel and was starting a new song.

 

_Absolutely no one who knows me better_

_No one that can make me feel so good_

_How did we stay so long together?_

_When everybody, everybody said we never would_

_And just when I_

_I start to think they're right_

_The love has died_

_There you go making my heart beat again_

_Heart beat again, heart beat again_

_There you go making me feel like a kid_

_Won't you do it, do it one time?_

_There you go pulling me right back in_

_Right back in, right back in_

_And I know I'm never letting this go_

_I'm stuck on you_

_Whoa-oh, whoa-oh, stuck like glue_

_You and me baby, we're stuck like glue_

_Whoa-oh, whoa-oh, stuck like glue_

_You and me baby, we're stuck like glue_

At the start of the chorus, Artemis smiled and had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Next to her, was starting to shake and make weird noises.

The two of them looked at eachother, saw the face the other was making and busted out laughing as the song played on.

“Wha-ha-ha-ha!” Wally guffawed.

“Wha-what are-haha-what are the odds!” Artemis asked as she held her side with one hand.

Wally shook his head and mouthed ‘I don’t know’ but was laughing so hard that so words came out, just this weird wheezing sound.

At that, Artemis laughed even harder, tears streaming down her face as she brought her knees up and leaned against Wally's shoulder.

They were like that long after the song had ended, just laughing and laughing at the stupidity of it all and the looks on each other’s face.

After what seemed like an eternity, the two teens finally reduced their laughter enough so that they could actually breath, leaning against eachother while they caught their breath, Artemis resting her head on his shoulder, while he had his on her head.

Eventually, Wally lifted his head up and began to move.

Artemis looked up at him, confused, before she realized he was moving his right arm from between them and wrapping it around her midriff, pulling her closer to him.

The blonde was shocked by this action and froze, her mind racing.

_‘What the-is he-did he just-why that little-what the hell does he think he doing!’_ she mentally ranted as she tensed up, _‘He actually had the gall to-I never said he could-I’m gonna hit him so hard! I’m-I-I don’t-I don’t want to!’_ her mind blanked at that last thought.

_‘I don’t want to?’_ she asked herself.

_‘No, I don’t,’_ she answered.

_‘But it’s Wally?’_

_‘So?’_

_‘Wally’s-Wally’s-‘_

_‘Kinda cute.’_

_‘Is not!’_

_‘Quit being in denial. He is. You like him. End of story.’_

_‘But but but-‘_

_‘Besides, looks like he likes you too.’_

_‘He does?’_

_‘Would he be holding you if he wasn’t?’_

Artemis had to admit she was right.

As she had a conversation with herself, she didn’t notice that the boy in question was staring at her, waiting for her to make a move. He had thrown his arm around her on an impulse and had instantly regretted it the second she tensed up.

_‘Smooth move, Wally,’_ he berated himself, _‘You just grabbed a girl who, A) hates to be grabbed, and B) loves to punch the people who’ve grabbed her. I.e. you!’_

Looking at the beautiful blonde next to him, he couldn’t help but smile and added, _‘But in the end; totally worth losing my teeth.’_

Resigned to his fate, the speedster‘s heart nearly stopped when he felt Artemis relax and lean against him again with her eyes closed, completely at ease with his arm around her.

Feeling like an angel was playing a harp made of his heartstrings, Wally smiled lovingly at the girl next to him before putting his head on top of hers again and sighing contently.

They stayed like that for a while.

Neither one moving or speaking.

Just sitting together and listening to the songs on the TV.

Both of them just happy to be where they were at that exact moment.

Not realizing that they had an audience.


	2. Chapter 2

M’gann had returned with the solvent while they had been laughing, and had decided to watch and see what was so funny from the kitchen. She watched as Wally side hugged her, as Artemis leaned against him, and saw the look on Wally’s face before he put his head against hers.

It was so adorable she didn’t want to interrupt.

“It’s about time those two got together,” a voice said from right beside her.

Startled, M’gann squeaked and ran into the counter, rattling Artemis’ rocket and making a lot of noise.

As two heads perked up from the couch, the Martian turned to glared at the boy next to her, “Robin! You ruined the-huh?” only to find that he had disappeared, leaving only the sound of his laughter.

Noticing that they had company, and just how close they were to eachother, Artemis and Wally jumped off of the couch, pulling their arms in the process of trying to spin around and face their audience.

Finally managing it with red faces, they both yelled, ““Nothing happened!””

 _‘Indeed it didn’t,’_ M’gann thought with a pout, _‘Nice going, Robin.’_

To the two teens she said, “I-uh-got the solvent,” she held up a small container, “You know, for your hands?”

Silently, and almost hesitantly, Artemis and Wally walked into the kitchen and allowed M’gann to apply the solvent to their hands. When the glue finally dissolved, the teens stretched their now free hands and glanced at eachother before mumbling their thanks to the Martian and walking away in opposite directions.

The green skinned girl felt helpless as she watched them leave, knowing she had to do something, but she had no idea what.

As she stood in the kitchen fretting, Zatanna entered looking for a drink. Seeing the Martian in obvious distress she asked, “Something wrong, M’gann?”

Swinging around to face her, M’gann blurted out, “Artemis was making a rocket and Wally wanted her glue and they got stuck together and I went to get solvent and they had a moment and Robin ruined it and now I don’t know what to do!” she began to hyperventilate.

After calming the Martian down and giving her a glass of water, Zatanna finally managed to get her to repeat the story again, but this time, ‘with a little more details, if you please’.

When she finally finished, the magician agreed that it was a tragedy.

But she was filled with annoyance, not helplessness.

Specifically, annoyance towards a certain thirteen-year-old boy in shades.

“Robin,” she called, “Come out here right now!”

“What?”

M’gann jumped as the Boy Wonder once again appeared out of nowhere beside her, but Zatanna was nearly as startled.

She merely placed her hands on her hips, glared at the boy and said, “What were you thinking, popping out of nowhere like that? Artemis and Wally were _finally_ having a moment, and you just had to go and ruin it?”

Backing up slightly under her stare, he thought, _‘One day she’s going to give Bats a run for his money.’_ Opening his mouth, Robin tried to speak, but was cut off.

Leaning forward and getting in his face, Zatanna continued, “Do you have any idea how thickheaded and stubborn those two are? It took them forever and a half to get this far and after you’re little stunt who knows how long it’ll take them to try this again!” straightening back up and crossing her arms, she finished, “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

Stunned for an instant, Robin held his arms up helplessly and said, “Um-sorry?”

Shaking her head, the raven-haired girl responded, “Sorry won’t work this time, Rob. These two have been in denial about eachother for far too long. Today is the day it stops,” she smirked evilly, “And you’re going to help.”

Gulping, he thought, _‘Did I say “one day”? I meant_ today _.’_

With the Boy Wonder now fully on board–whether he liked it or not­–Zatanna began to explain her plan.

When she had finished, she sent Robin off to locate Wally, while she and M’gann tracked down Artemis.

After a ten minute mental search by M’gann they finally found the archer in the weight room next to one of the heavy bags.

She was seated against the wall with her legs crossed and her head in her left hand as her eyes stared at her right one when they walked into the room, a faraway, and somewhat soft look on her face.

Artemis was so focused on her thoughts that she didn’t even notice the two girls until they were, literally, right in her face.

Jerking back in surprise, the blonde managed to slam her head into the wall behind her with a resounding crack. Cursing, she grabbed her head with both hands before glaring at her audience.

“What?!”

“Are you okay?” M’gann asked tentatively.

Scowling, she replied, “I’m going to have a bump the size of Mt. Rushmore on the back of my skull, but I’ll live.”

“She wasn’t talking about that, Artemis,” Zatanna said with a smirk, “She was talking about you and Wally.”

Blushing madly, Artemis stuttered, “Wha-what about me and Wal-I mean-Kid Idiot?!”

Rolling her eyes, the magician continued, “Oh come on! You obviously like him!”

Crossing her arms and pouting as she looked away, the blonde replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh really?” the raven-haired girl asked, her eyebrow cocked.

“Yes really,” Artemis retorted, turning back to glare at Zatanna.

“Hmm. Care to explain this then?” waving her hands through the air, she said, _“Wohs tahw deneppah no eht hcuoc!”_

Out of nowhere a circle appeared beside Zatanna, clearly showing the living room, along with the TV, the coffee table, the couch-

_And Wally and Artemis snuggling together._

Leaping up with a cry, Artemis swiped at the image until it wafted away like smoke.

As the last bits of the magic disappeared, the blonde regained some of her composure and returned to crossing her arms and glaring in a random direction, her face now completely red.

“Tha-that was-um…“ she struggled to think up some excuse but failed.

“Adorable!” M’gann quipped, earning herself a patented Artemis glare.

“Was not!”

“It totally was,” Zatanna added coolly.

“Zatanna!”

The magician threw her hands in the air in frustration.

“Will you just admit that you have feelings for him?”

“I do not!”

“Oh come on Artemis!” M’gann gushed, “You two are perfect for eachother!”

“We are not! I have absolutely no feelings at all for that-that-that walking stomach! In fact, I want to take my bow and shoot him in the skull on a daily basis!”

Sighing, Zatanna turned to M’gann and said, “Well this is going nowhere fast.”

Looking at the raven-haired girl, the Martian asked, “Plan B?”

She replied, “Plan B,” before looking back at Artemis with the most devious smile on her face.

“What’s Plan B?” the blonde asked warily, taking a step back.

“Robin’s ready on his end,” M’gann said.

“Great,” Zatanna replied and before the archer could so much as blink, she quickly chanted, _“Tropelet reh ot eht moor!”_

Instantly, white smoke appeared at Artemis’ feet before quickly rising upward and covering her entire body. It disappeared just as quickly as it had come.

And took Artemis with it.

* * *

After hacking into the security cameras, it was easy for Robin to locate Wally. After leaving the kitchen, the speedster had _walked_ to the hangar and sat on the pier, staring onto the water’s surface.

“Sup Wally.”

“Wah!” Wally yelped, leaping into the air and nearly falling into the water in the process. Regaining his balance, the redhead glared at Robin and indignantly cried, “Dude!”

“What?” the Boy Wonder asked innocently.

Seething, Wally replied, “Stop popping up like that! Because of you-“ he stopped and crossed his arms in a huff.

“Because of me-what? Did I mess something up?” Robin said in a state of faux disbelief.

Turning on his friend, Wally growled, “Yes man! Do you have any idea how close I was with Artemis!”

“But I thought you hated Artemis?” he asked with a smirk.

Backpedalling quickly, the redhead stammered, “I-I do-I mean-she’s not all-uh-argh! Quit confusing me!”

“I’m confusing you?”

“No! She is!”

“Artemis?” Robin prodded.

“YES! One minute she’s all condescending and arrogant and I just want to annoy the hell out of her just to piss her off. And the next,” his face softened, “And the next minute she shows a tiny bit of self-consciousness and it takes everything I have not to wrapped her into a hug,” Wally’s shoulders slumped.

The Boy Wonder asked, “Do you know what the problem is?”

Looking up at his best friend, the redhead said, “No. What?”

“The problem is that you like her.”

Wally rolled his eyes, “Of course I like her. She’s a good friend and a great teammate.”

Robin face-palmed himself and thought, _‘Leave it to Kid Idiot to miss the obvious.’_

“Not to mention a great sho-“

Robin cut him off. “No, Wallman, I mean that you _‘like her’_ like her!”

“Wuh-wha-what!” Wally spluttered, “NO! no way! I-I don’t!”

“Really? Then what’s this about?” Unknowingly copying Zatanna, albeit in his own way, Robin brought up the surveillance footage of the living room, zooming in the “happy couple” on the couch before zooming close enough to show the look on Wally’s face as he stared at Artemis.

The raven head looked at him with a cocked eyebrow.

Wally stared at himself for a few seconds in silence before crumpling onto his behind in disbelief, and quietly saying, “I really do, don’t I?”

 _‘Well, at least he admitted it,’_ Robin thought before quipping, “Yup, and apparently you’re the last to know.” Thinking about it for a second, he amended, “Well, second to last.”

“Huh?” Wally asked, perplexed.

Smacking himself on the head again and grumbling something about ‘thick-headedness’, Robin reached down and hoisted the fastest boy alive onto his feet and began to drag him out of the hangar and down various hallways.

Eventually, the Boy Wonder stopped in front of a steel door, and punched a code into the adjoining keypad, causing the door to slide open.

Without a word, but with a smirk, Robin shoved Wally into the room, and closed the door before the speedster could even comprehend what had just happened.

Locking the door as he heard his best friend begin to bang against it, the raven-haired boy smiled and said, “Sorry, buddy, but this is for your own good.”

Mentally he thought, _‘M’gann; I locked Wally in the room. How’re things on your end?’_

 _‘We’ve just found Artemis, but she’s in denial, big time,’_ M’gann sighed. _‘How was Wally?’_

 _‘A bit stubborn at first, but got him to admit it in the end!’_ Robin stated proudly.

_‘Yay! Now all that’s left is Artemis! I’ll tell Zatanna you’re ready!’_

_‘Great! I’ll meet you two in the kitchen. See you then,’_ Robin signed off.

With that, the Boy Wonder took a last look at the door and its occupant, shoved his hands into his pockets and began to make his way to the Cave’s kitchen where he could watch the fun unfold, whistling and smiling all the way.

* * *

As the smoke cleared, Artemis took a breath to begin shouting profanities at Zatanna when she realized that the magician was no longer in front of her, and neither was M’gann.

In fact, the entire weight room was gone.

 _‘Zatanna must’ve teleported me. When I get my hands on her…’_ she mentally grumbled as she took in her surroundings. Glancing around, the blonde saw that she was in a room not much bigger than the one she had at home.

Startled by the sound of something banging repeatedly behind her, Artemis twirled and braced herself for an attack only to relax when she realized it was just Wally slamming his fists against-

_Wally!?_

Doing a double take, the archer saw that it was indeed the speedster, pounding on what appeared to be the door to the room. The only door, actually.

Which meant that it was the only way out of the room.

And if Wally was pounding on it, then chances were good that it was locked.

Artemis’ heart clenched at the idea of being locked in a room.

Alone.

With Wally.

“Please tell me that door isn’t locked,” she asked, hating how freaked out she sounded.

Wally jumped at the sound of someone’s voice and his eyes grew wide when he saw who it belonged to. Gulping and rubbing the back of his head he said, “’Fraid so, beautiful,” kicking himself for calling her that.

Luckily, she didn’t notice; only hearing him say the door was locked.

_‘Zatanna, you are officially on my list.’_


	3. Chapter 3

 

Wally took several deep breaths as he tried to take stock the situation he was in.

 _‘Calm down, Wallman, calm down,’_ he thought to himself, _‘You’re fine, totally fine. You’re just locked in a room at the cave with only one exit, which is locked, no snacks and-_ gulp _-Artemis.’_

Looking over at the blonde, who was currently surveying the ceiling, Wally deciding to scrap his last thought.

_‘I am sooooo not fine!’_

Little did he know, Artemis wasn’t much better.

Behind the pissed off look on her face, the archer was freaking out.

She had scoured every square inch of the room and had come to the inevitable, and infuriating conclusion that there was absolutely no way out except through the door Wally had come through.

Which was now locked.

Which means she was trapped in this room.

With _Wally._

Hence her freaking out.

After checking the ceiling for the third time, and finding nothing more than dozen or so inch sized air vent holes, Artemis finally sighed and leaned against the wall farthest from the door, and slid down to the floor.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wally do the same on the opposite wall.

Wally.

The blonde closed her eyes and rubbed the space between her eyes with her right hand as she mentally grumbled, _‘Zatanna, when I get my hands on you-what did I do to deserve this! As if being teleported into a locked room wasn’t bad enough, I’m locked in a room with_ Wally _!’_

As the archer grumbled to herself, the speedster had similar thoughts.

 _‘Rob, I know exactly what you’re doing, and dude, I DO NOT APPRECIATE IT! I mean, c’mon! I just figured out that I like her and just like that, you think I should tell her! That just goes to show that for all your hacking skills you’re still just a thirteen year old kid,’_ Wally rubbed the back of his head as he tried not to stare at Artemis.

‘ _You can’t just walk up to a girl and tell her you like her-_ especially _if that girl is practically a trained assassin and can use a bow like nobody’s business,’_ his face softened, _‘Not that she needs it, she can kick butt with her bare-_ stop it _! Do not think like that now! Thinking like that will lead to nothing but trouble and you’re currently locked in a room with it! A tiny room. With no way out…’_

“I take Robin’s the one who locked you in here?”

“Huh?” Wally said, snapping out of his internal rant.

“Robin,” Artemis asked again, “Did he lock you in here or did you do this yourself?”

The red head decided to ignore the last bit and instead responded, “Yeah, the little troll did. How’d you know?”

The blonde leaned her head against her right fist and growled, “I heard M’gann say something about Robin being ready before Zatanna ‘poofed’ me in here.”

“Ah. I was wondering how you got here. What were you doing with M’gann and Zatanna?”

Artemis blushed and looked away, “Uh-nothing! We just talked,” she glared at him, “What’s it to you!”

Holding his hands up defensively, Wally replied, “Nothing, just…trying to make conversation.” His right sneaker began to tap against the floor.

“How’s about a little less chit-chat, and a little more figuring a way out?” she snapped.

Wally didn’t reply and Artemis was fine with that.

They stayed like that for a while; Artemis brooding and Wally with his eyes closed, tapping his foot, which was soon followed by patting his hands against his knees, followed by his other foot.

It was ten minutes before the archer snapped.

“Would you hold still!”

Wally froze and his eyes shot open.

“Huh-what? Oh sorry,” he instantly went back to tapping but stopped himself by grabbing his feet and holding them to the floor. “My bad.”

Annoyance gone, Artemis took her first real look at Wally since arriving in the room.

She didn’t like what she saw.

The speedster seemed paler than usually and his eyes kept darting around like they were watching something. He was sweating bullets and kept twitching.

No, not twitching. More like _vibrating_.

 _‘Something’s wrong,’_ Artemis thought.

Sitting up a little bit, she asked, “Hey, Baywatch. You ok?”

He flinched when she spoke and didn’t look at her when he responded, “Wha-yeah-I’m fine-totally fine-hey is it hot in here-cuz I’m really really hot right now-is it just me-it’s just me isn’t it-oh boy-“ on and on he went, spitting out words like a machine gun.

The archer was at a loss for words. She’d never seen Wally like this. Ever.

And she didn’t like it.

“Baywatch.”

He got up and started to pace now, going from wall to wall and back again, mumbling about how hot it was and how he couldn’t breathe.

Artemis stood up. “Kid?”

He started to go faster, zipping as quickly as he could from each corner of the room. But he couldn’t get up enough speed to go as fast as he wanted to.

As he _needed_ to.

“Gotta go faster-gotta get out-get out-out-out-out-out-out-out-out-out-“

“WALLY!” Artemis grabbed his hand on one of his one of his passes and dragged him to a stop, nearly yanking her arm out of its socket in the process but she ignored the pain. She would ignore any pain-

As long as it would make him _stop_.

At her touch, Wally skidded to a stop and just looked at her wide-eyed and vibrating.

At the concerned and almost scared look on her face, he almost forgot why he was freaking out.

Then he remembered.

“Walls closing-gotta run-gotta move-“

She gripped his hand harder and added her left as he tried to move again.

“Wally, calm down!”

He wouldn’t listen. “No-no-no-have to run-need to run- walls-out- _now!_ ”

Artemis dug her feet in and held on with everything she had, trying her best not to break down at the state the red head was in.

“Wally _please!_ ”

He began to vibrate violently, making it harder to hold him.

“Out-out-out-out-“

_SLAP!_

The slap was strong enough to make Wally’s head snap to the side: and to get through to him.

As he finally stopped shaking like an earthquake, Artemis placed her hands on either side of his face and forced him to look at her.

Eyes blazing with anger, the archer growled, “Wallace West, you will calm down right now, or so help me I will break both your legs and strap you to a hospital bed for a month. With no snacks!”

That got his attention.

“Not even ice cream?”

She got an inch away from his face. “No! Not even ice cream! Now calm. The hell. Down!”

Wally’s eyes darting all over the place before he finally closed them and took several deep breaths: grabbing Artemis’ forearms as he did so.

Eventually his breathing slowed down somewhat, although it still wasn’t quite normal, and he opened his green eyes to gray ones looking at him with anger and a hint of concern.

He smiled crookedly, “Thanks beautiful, I needed that.”

Artemis blushed and looked away: mumbling something that sounded like a “You’re welcome”.

At some point she looked back, realized she was still holding his face, let go, and jumped back, with one hand on her hip, the other scratching her head and looking everywhere but at Wally.

After a few awkward seconds of nothing but the sound of the speedster trying to control his breathing, Artemis asked, “So what was that, exactly?”

Wally swallowed, “Um…a panic attack?”

She whirled back to face him, “Panic attack! What for? What are you, claustrophobic?”

“Uh….yeah, actually….” The red head admitted sheepishly.

“Oh,” the archer said softly as she mentally berated herself, _‘Smooth, Artemis. Real smooth. I mean, c’mon! What else would cause him to freak out in here?’_ Her shoulders slumped. _‘Besides you.’_

“Sorry,” she mumbled, “I didn’t know.”

“No-no. It’s fine. I just… need to breathe is all,” Wally replied with his eyes closed; in the back of his mind he was somewhat startled at her second apology of the day.

Artemis shifted her weight guiltily before a thought struck her and she blurted out, “Does Robin know?”

He opened his eyes and looked at her confused, “Does Robin know what?”

“That you’re claustrophobic, Kid Idiot!” she growled with a look of fury on her face.

He began to shift his own weight from leg to leg and replied, “I’ve never _specifically_ told him, but seeing how he’s Robin and all, yeah, he probably knows,” he squeezed his eyes shut.

The walls were beginning to close in again.

Seeing him starting to freak out again, Artemis grabbed his hand and dragged him over to a wall and made him sit down against it. Once he was settled, she joined him on his left, letting go of his hand as she slid down the wall.

Once on the floor, she ordered Wally to, “Close your eyes and keep breathing,” which he did as Artemis began to rant about the Boy Wonder.

“So what you’re saying is, that despite the fact that he knew you would freak out, that little troll locked you in this tiny room?!”

“Pretty much,” Wally replied nonchalantly, focused on his breathing.

 _‘Robin, you just joined Zatanna on my list,’_ Artemis thought. Aloud she said, “Why in the world would he do that?”

The red head tensed up at that question, and the blonde noticed.

Staring at his face, she accused, “You know, don’t you?”

Swallowing hard, Wally replied, “It’s more of a guess really,” making a serious effort to keep his eyes shut.

“And that guess would be?” Artemis asked through gritted teeth.

“That I’m probably in here for the same reason you are,” he blurted out.

The archer was about to snap at him to stop speaking in riddles, when realization dawned on her.

The same reason-

Oh boy.

Wally felt Artemis lean back against the wall without a word and knew, _knew_ , that she understood exactly what he was talking about.

After about a minute of silence, during which the speedster could have sworn that the walls had moved an inch, Wally said, “Our friends love getting into other people’s business, don’t they?”

Startled, the blonde replied, “Um, yeah, they do.”

Return of the awkward silence.

Wally was about to start hyperventilating again when a voice out of nowhere said, “Will you two just make out already!”

Both teens literally jumped a few feet into the air before regaining their composure and scanning around the room searching for the source of the familiar voice.

“Robin! Let us out of here right now!” Artemis growled.

“Sorry Art, no can do,” Zatanna’s voice quipped, “You two have been in denial for long enough!”

“I am not in denial!” Wally shouted.

“Dude, if you haven’t told her-“

“Robin!” M’gann cut in, “Don’t spoil it for him!”

“Yeah, Rob,” Zatanna added. “They need to do this themselves.”

“Do what?” Artemis asked suspiciously.

Miss Martian nervously started, “Well, basically, we’re not letting you guys out-“

“Until you two admit how you feel for eachother-” the magician continued.

“And kiss,” Robin finished with a smirked that could be felt through the speakers.


	4. Chapter 4

“” _KISS_!”” Wally and Artemis shouted at the same time.

“Yup,” Robin cheekily replied.

As the two-trapped teens stood there flabbergasted, Zatanna said, “Sorry guys, nothing personal.”

“Are you kidding me?! That’s about as personal as it gets!” Artemis snapped at the magician.

“I can think of something more personal,” Robin quipped.

“Robin!” M’gann squealed.

“Well I _can_!”

“Down boy,” Zatanna called. “Anyway; you two. Talk. NOW!”

With that, the trap-ees heard a distinct _‘click’_ , saying that their friends weren’t talking to them anymore.

But were probably still watching.

“Why those-can’t believe they- _UUGGGGHH!!!_ ” Artemis growled.

“This day just gets better and better, doesn’t it?” Wally asked.

“Gee, ya think?” the blonde snapped looking at him before blushing and looking away.

They stood in silence for a moment before the red-head asked, “So, now what?”

Taking her seat back against the wall defiantly, Artemis said, “We figure out a way to get out.”

As she began to go over every futile escape plan she had come up with, Wally remained standing.

 _‘Ok Wall-man, you heard the_ Trolling Trio _: you want to get out; you have to confess. To Artemis,’_ the thought alone caused the speedster’s heart rate to skyrocket.

Then he remembered where he was.

“We’re still in the cave right? So eventually Kaldur or someone would-no that won’t work,” Artemis spoke to herself aloud in the hopes of coming up with a plan.

And more importantly, to keep her from thinking about what Robin had said.

“Kaldur’s visiting Atlantis and probably won’t be back for a while. Besides, Wally and I don’t live here, so he won’t look for us.”

 _‘Confess to Artemis or stay in here,’_ Wally began to mentally rant, _‘Tell a girl that hates your guts that you really like her; or, stay in this room. This little, room. This small, cramped room that’s getting smaller….’_

“Red Tornado might have noticed us zeta in, but not out, and _might_ look for us…. but Robin and Zatanna could probably convince him this is a _good_ idea….” Artemis grumbled, not noticing the speedster tense up.

_‘This teeny tiny, itsy bitsy room that is getting smaller and running out of air!’_

As Wally began to hyperventilate, the archer finally noticed and, quick as a speedster, grabbed his hand and pulled him down beside her.

After landing with an “oomph”, the redhead snapped out of it just in time to hear Artemis growl at him.

“Don’t even _think_ about freaking out again!” she ordered.

“But-“

“No buts!” Artemis said, shaking his hand for emphasis, before saying in a quieter voice, “Look, I get that you don’t like small spaces; but I _promise_ you that so long as I am here, you will be fine! Got it, Baywatch?”

Wally was about to answer no when he saw the look on the archer’s face, and knew, just knew, that if it was with her, he would be fine. As he nodded, he wondered, _‘When in the world did I fall in love with this girl?’_

Artemis let go of his hand, leaned her head back and said, “Good,” as she closed her eyes.

After staring at her face for a second, Wally took a deep breath as he closed his own eyes, trying his hardest to stay calm.

For Artemis.

They stayed like that for a while: Wally focusing on his breathing and Artemis focusing on a way to get out _without_ having to confess.

 _‘Confess to what? It’s not like I like him or anything?’_ she thought before remembering a similar conversation she had with herself earlier.

 _‘Ok, so I like him, but like as in a friend, not like as in lo-STOP! Don’t think about that! Don’t even think about him! Or how in shape he is! Or how his hair looks like fire when he’s running… Or how his eyes are an impossible shade of green, with little flecks of-KNOCK IT OFF!’_ she shook her head violently.

 _‘WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME! So I like him and think he’s cute?_ So what?! _Looks aren’t everything!’_ she began to rant; conveniently ignoring her admission that she thought he was cute.

 _‘He might have decent looks, but beneath those looks is a completely annoying guy, who’s constantly infuriating me and getting himself into dangerous situations!’_ Artemis took a deep breath to try and calm down when something occurred to her.

 _‘Then again, whenever he gets into a dangerous situation it’s usually to help someone else get out of one. And, I_ guess _he can be pretty_ funny _at times, when he wants to be._ And _his science ideas_ have _gotten us out of tough jams on more than one occasion.’_

 _‘Not to mention how brave, clever, and loyal he is in gener-’_ the blonde haired girl stopped short and opened her eyes wide as an epiphany smacked her dead in the face.

_‘Oh shit.’_

_‘I’m in love with Wally.’_

Artemis dared to take a peek at the boy in question, and breathed a silent sigh of relief when she saw that his eyes were closed.

Leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes again, she thought, _‘What am I going to do…’_

Wally was wondering the exact same thing.

Ever since their so-called “friends” had stopped talking to them and Artemis had stopped yet another of his panic attacks, he’d been rehearsing his confession to her.

Needless to say;

It wasn’t going well.

Every time he got halfway through one of his confessions he would imagine the look on her face, and if her beauty didn’t cause him to stumble over his own words (which is hard to do inside one’s own head) her look of rage or disgust would.

 _‘What am I going to do? If I don’t tell Artemis how I really feel, we’re going to be trapped in here until Batman has a new mission for us, which could be days from now-_ and _we have no food!’_ Just the thought of chow caused Wally’s stomach to growl like Wolf when someone stepped on his tail.

Taking a peek at the girl next to him to see if she’d heard, he was relieved to find that her eyes were still closed and she didn’t seem to have heard him.

Turning his head so he was looking at her with both eyes as he leaned against the wall, the speedster just sat there and took in the beauty of the girl he’d fallen in love with. He studied her tanned skin, her well-kept hair that he longed to touch, and nearly glared at the eyelids that kept him from seeing her beautiful stormy eyes that seemed to glow when she was happy, which, to his annoyance, wasn’t often, and hardened when she was enraged.

But, the more he stared at her, the more depressed he got.

Finally he leaned forward and allowed his head to drop.

 _‘What in the world am I thinking… she’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met…. Forget the same league, we aren’t even playing the same sport,’_ he looked back at her and sighed.

_‘I don’t stand a chance with her.’_

He nearly cracked his head against the wall when he saw her shake her own head violently.

Like she was disagreeing with him.

But her eyes were still closed.

Taking a deep breath he thought, _‘Calm down Wall-man, she didn’t hear you. She’s…probably just vetoed some plan of hers, is all. It’s not like she read your mind-‘_ His mind blanked at that thought.

Artemis couldn’t read minds.

But M’gann could!

 _‘M’gann! Did you set up a mind link?! Not cool!’_ Wally asked, glaring at he ceiling.

He got no response.

Closing his eyes again he thought, _‘You had better not of! Especially when I’m in the middle of trying to confess! Mind-games are bad enough withou telepathy getting involved! Not to mention being locked with her in this tiny room-oh crap…’_ The redhead mentally smacked himself.

_‘Why! Why did I have to remember how tiny the room is!’_

Sure enough, once he remembered where he was, Wally couldn’t focus on his confession any more.

Now all he could think about was how the room was closing in on him.

He squeezed his eyes shut and began trying to breathe deeply to keep himself calm, but it wasn’t helping. He tried to do advanced equations and problems, but nothing was working.

He could _hear_ the room shrinking

And he was beginning to hyperventilate.

_‘Shit! This is bad!’_

Without thinking, his right hand shot out and clamped onto Artemis’ left.

Two sets of eyes opened at the exact same time.

Followed shortly of the blushing of two sets of cheeks.

Wally and Artemis stared at their once again conjoined hands for a minute before finally daring to look eachother in the eye.

Clearing his throat and smiling sheepishly, the red faced red head said, “Sorry. I-uh-was having… another…panic…attack….”

Playing it cool (although inwardly freaking out) the archer replied, “Oh, um, that’s-that’s fine. Whatever-you know-helps.”

With that, the blonde flipped her hand and grabbed his, weaving her fingers between his.

Both teens stared at their hands, silently amazed at how well they seemed to fit together, before leaning back and closing their eyes and letting the room fall back into silence.

Half an hour later

Eyes still closed, Artemis said, “When we get out of here, I’m going to _kill_ those three!”

“No kidding. Which one are you gonna get first?” Wally asked, hoping to distract himself.

From another panic attack or geeking out over holding Artemis’ hand, he didn’t know.

“Good question…. I think I’ll hit Bird Boy first. That way he won’t know what to expect.”

“Let me know if you need help with that. Heh, at this point, I’d be more than willing to help. And after him?”

“Definitely Zatanna! Still working on what I’m going to do to her, but it’s going to be good!”

“Leaving M’gann for last, huh?” the speedster said.

“Yeah, but don’t worry, I’ll go easy on her. I get the feeling she was mostly along for the ride on this,” Artemis sneered, “Besides, I’d hate to have to put up with your _whining_ if I gave her so much as a bruise!” Artemis mentally smacked herself.

_‘What the hell did I have to go and say that for?’_

Wally turned and frowned at the girl. “I would not whine!”

The archer, forgetting her previous thought, glared at him and said, “Oh, please! You fawn over her like she’s some- some _damsel_ in distress! Even though you _know_ she’s going out with Connor!”

“I do not _fawn_ over her!” Wally defended.

“” _Babe_ , you are the _best_ cook! _Sugar_ , you are the _sweetest_ dresser!” Bleh!” Artemis mocked. “You make me wanna throw up just _listening_ to you, never mind the _goo-goo_ eyes you make at her!”

The speedster slid further down the wall and lamely mumbled, “They were not goo-goo eyes.”

“Really? Then tell, Mr. Know-It-All, what were they? Cause from where I was standing, they looked like goo-goo eyes to me!”

Wally’s head snapped up. “Speaking of which; what were _you_ doing, standing there watching me and M’gann, huh?”

“That-I-uh-I was-was- _waiting_ for mission debriefing! That’s all!” Artemis stammered.

“Really?” he asked skeptically.

“Yes.” She forced herself to look him in the eye.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Every single time I was flirting with M’gann?”

“AHA! So you admit it was flirting!”

“I never said it wasn’t!”

“Sure sounded like that to me!”

“Well-yes, it was! And I don’t do it anymore!”

“Don’t do it- you were calling her _babe_ just a few hours ago!”

“That was different…”

“How was that any different from what you normally do?!”

“I wasn’t serious- _wait a sec_ -“

“You weren’t serious!”

“Well, yes, but-“ Wally tried to defend himself.

Artemis let go of his hand. “So you’re just messing with her now, is that it?”

“NO! It’s just kind of a reflex after all this time-“

“A reflex?! You call constant flirting a _reflex_?!”

“She knows I don’t mean it! I get that she’s with Connor! And I’m fine with that. This is just the two of us having, like, a little inside joke!”

“Flirting is not a joke, _Wal-ly_!” she sneered. “It’s a way to show someone that you like them-“

“BUT I DON’T LIKE HER! I LIKE YOU!” Wally slammed his hand over his mouth, but it was too late.

He’d confessed.

Artemis’ froze and just looked at him, her mouth open.

“You…what?” Inwardly she thought, _‘I heard him wrong. I_ had _to have heard him wrong. There’s no way-‘_ she blushed at where that thought went.

After unintentionally blurting out his feelings, Wally leaned back against the, eyes straight ahead, with both hands shoved into his lap.

Not daring to look the archer in the face.

 _‘Well, Wally,’_ he thought, _‘You started it; might as well finish it.’_

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he continued.

“M’gann is a sweet, smart, and wonderful girl-“

Artemis’ heart sank.

_‘He’s talking about M’gann…’_

“-But she’s not the girl for me.”

Her jaw dropped.

“I need someone who’s not afraid to tell me if and when I’m wrong; or has no problem with getting in my face after I do something _really_ stupid and dangerous. Someone with enough guts to fight the _entire_ Injustice League with only her _bare hands_ and strong enough to hold her own against them. Someone who’s passionate, fierce, loyal and…is just like you,” he finished quietly.

The girl could scarcely believe what she was hearing. Wally West, self-described bane of her existence, was… _confessing_ to her.

She barely heard him continue.

“I know that when we first met I wasn’t exactly…welcoming…but after Bialya…things changed. I stopped seeing you as Roy’s replacement and just saw…you,” he opened his eyes but still didn’t look at her, “Clever, bold, fiery, you.”

Artemis had practically stopped listening. Her mind kept circling around that fact that Kid Flash was confessing to her.

Her.

Not M’gann.

Not Zatanna.

Her.

Artemis Crock. Well-known daughter of two criminals, and sister to another.

And Wally just kept going.

“And then… during the simulation…when I lost you…it felt like every fiber of my being just shattered into a million pieces before melting into-into _rage_ against the _scum_ who had taking you from me. I vowed to kill every last one of them.”

He finally looked at her, staring into her stormy gray eyes.

“I have never been so furious; before or since. Or so desperate when I thought I could get you back. And when I finally did get you back,” he looked away, “I was so scared of how much I cared for you that I denied it and didn’t _dare_ tell you.”

Artemis felt something wet streak down her right cheek and realized with a shock that she was crying. She was even more shocked when she realized that she didn’t care.

At all.

“Artemis…what I’m trying to say is that I-“

“Shut up.”

“What I mean is-“

“Shut. Up.”

Wally felt his heart shatter all over again.

She was rejecting him.

He looked towards her, pleading, “Artemis-“

–But got no further when he felt her lips press against his.

When they pulled apart, he was upset to see tears streaming down her face.

But he was happy to see that they were coupled with the smile he loved so much.

“Wally, you talk _way_ to much.”

“Heh-heh, yeah, I…get that a lot,” he chuckled as he used his left hand to wipe off the tears on her right cheek; looking at her with pure adoration when she leaned against his palm.

Wally leaned in and whispered, “I should’ve done this a _long_ time ago.”

“No kidding,” she replied just before their lips connected again. Tilting her head for better access, Artemis stretched her arms around his neck as she felt his go around her waist.

He firmly, but gently pulled her into his lap so that she was sitting sideways.

She had just starting to run her fingers through his hair, and was enjoying the moans they elicited when-

“ _click_ -EW THEY WOULD GET TOGETHER!! I KNEW IT!!”

The new couples’ heads jolted apart but they kept their hold on eachother.

“Finally.”

“It’s about time.”

“Way to get traught, Artemis!”

Both teens glared at the ceiling.

“Um, Zatanna…”

“Yeah, Rob?”

“I think you hit the intercom button.”

“…whoops.”

“Zatanna.” Artemis said icily.

“…yeah?”

“Are our ears deceiving us-“

“Or did we just hear the rest of the team up there?” Wally finished.

“…maybe.”

The two teens stared at the ceiling for a few seconds longer before Wally asked, “Still gonna kill’em?”

The blond thought about it for a moment before smiling coyly and responding, “Yes. But it’s for a different reason now.”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“How so?”

“Before; it was for locking in this tiny room together.”

“And now?”

She smiled and pecked him on the cheek before whispering in his ear, “Now; it’s for interrupting us.”

Wally smiled wide and hugged her even tighter to his chest.

“Babe, you really are my spitfire.”


End file.
